Citing declining enrollment over the last five years, Central Day School in Collierville has announced it will close at the end of the school year.

Five years ago, the school, which is housed at Central Church, 2005 Winchester, had 355 students enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade. During the current school year, that number dipped to 228, said Central Church director of operations David Darnell.

"Basically, we're proud of the rich history that the school has had over the years," Darnell said. "It's a testament to our great, dedicated and gifted teachers. But unfortunately, the elders have been faced with about five years of declining enrollment and financial issues.

"Now with the municipal school systems coming in, the numbers made it such that the elders had to make the decision to close the school."

Darnell said the elders reached their decision early last week. The announcement was made to the faculty last Friday, and a letter was sent to parents.

Lelita Jeffers, a parent of two Central Day School children, said she was shocked when she received her letter in the mail last Saturday. Her oldest son, Richmond, is an eighth-grader who has attended the school since kindergarten. He will go to Harding Academy next year.

But she now must find a school for her youngest, Ryan, a second-grader.

"I told my nine-year-old that his school was closing and he cried," Jeffers said. "He cried big tears because of his friends, his teachers. It was just heart-sickening for him. He's thriving there. He's doing so well in that school because the teachers care so much about their kids. They go above and beyond to try and help a kid if there are any issues."

Jeffers said parents were given no indication that the school was in financial trouble. She added that some parents requested to meet with the elders, but were sent a letter from the church attorney saying no such meeting would take place.

"A lot of the parents are feeling betrayed right now," she said. "It's so depressing. I don't know how they're going to get through the last nine weeks of school because everybody is in tears about this. If there's a problem with the school, we should have had an opportunity to do fundraisers, to try to attract more people, something to keep this wonderful, precious school open."

Geneva Moore has an eighth-grader, Dwight, who has attended the school since the first grade. Last month, Dwight won the Memphis-Shelby County Spelling Bee. She, too, hates that the school will be closing its doors for good.

"It's been a great experience," Moore said. "I would've recommended the school very highly. I was so surprised that this happened."

Central Day School opened in August 1995 when Central Church was located in Hickory Hill at the corner of Kirby and Winchester. It employs 32 faculty and administrators, Darnell said.

The Central Learning Center, for children 2-5 years old, and the church's Parents Day Out program, will remain open and occupy the space left from the school closing.

"It was a very, very difficult decision for the elders," Darnell said. "They grieved over it, prayed over it, and then finally made the decision."